Olympic Slopestyle Course

The Rosa Khutor Extreme Park has been gobbling up riders left and right during practice for the 2014 Sochi Russia Olympic Games. So far Torstein Horgmo (Norway), Marika Enne (Finland), and Shaun White (USA) have sustained insjuries on the Sochi Olympic Sloperstyle Course.

The jump lips are far higher off the landing pads than Olympic qualifier contests have been. So far the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) blame Hotgmo’s broken collar bone on the trick he was performing and not the features of the course. Slopestyle courses are meant to be designed to showcase a riders best ability, not to destroy them with unsafe features. Finnish snowboarder Roope Tonteri says the jumps are “not really safe.”

Sochi Olympic Slopestyle Course Technical Delegate Bill Van Gilder (BVG) said on Monday, February 3rd that “Today’s features were super-good, they just need a few tweaks to make them even better and the feeling I have is that everyone’s ‘stoked’ with the course.” Lets all hope that the FIS will listen to the riders pooling together that are demanding course modifications.

All in all we must hope for the safety of every rider and for the best to stand on the podium when the event it finished.

Sit In on Professor Paul’s Masterclass in Rail Sliding

Minnesota, though blessed with snow, is not blessed with very many mountains, or indeed any, unless you count the hills that make up the Mesabi Range. And so the young Ryan Paul became a master of the rail. He dedicates this video to giving a veritable clinic on rail sliding at two different parks, including a so-good-it-feels-sacrilegious 360 to board slide at 2:12. Ever the resourceful boy, Ryan also teaches viewers new uses for the nose of a snowboard and how to employ a ladder when already buckled into bindings.

Burton US Open Qualifiers Men’s Slopestyle Contest

Speed was a factor at the Burton US Open Qualifiers event, but that didn’t stop riders from thrashing. IF you think you have what it takes to be the best, step up to the plate and hit a home-run next year at the qualifiers! Keep your board fast by tuning and waxing it with the right equipment – check it all out HERE.